Neck Pain

Neck pain usually results from repetitive movements or prolonged postures. It’s also caused by trauma such as whiplash from car accidents or sports injuries. The muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints and nerves get strained, sprained and inflamed.

 

 

Many muscles in your neck attach to your shoulders and upper back. This means that any problems in your neck can cause problems in your shoulders or your back, and vice versa. This bidirectional relationship underscores the important functional relationship between these interconnected anatomical structures.

Your neck passes the second highest concentration of sensory signals to your brain, called proprioception. This information continually updates your brain, in real-time, about the accurate position and movement of your head relative to your trunk. Your brain also uses this information to stabilise and co-ordinate movement of other body parts.

Neck pain, and restricted and stiff movement usually occur together. Your body wasn’t designed to maintain postures or perform repetitive movements for 8 hours a day. Occupational computer work is a significant culprit. This causes low level inflammation and microtrauma over time. It can slowly progress over time without you even being aware of it, until you reach a point where you find yourself in pain. Pain is usually the last symptom to appear. It signals that your neck has reached a point where it can no longer cope with repetitive or prolonged physical loads. In addition to neck pain, it can also cause cervicogenic headaches, and is associated with tension headaches and migraines.

Proprioception can also suffer when you have neck pain, and restricted and stiff movement. Researchers have found that the information your neck sends to your brain about the position of your head is incorrect. Your brain then uses this erroneous information to stabilise and control movements of your head and neck, as well as the rest of your body. The fact that the neck has the second highest concentration of proprioceptors tells us how important neck proprioception is to posture, stability and movement of the whole body, and how much your brain relies on it. This erroneous information results in faulty movements (motor patterns), which is the sequencing of contractions and relaxation of muscles that need to be co-ordinated to enable stability and movement. Many people know this as “compensating”. Over time, faulty motor patterns can fail, resulting in pain and restricted movements, including acute injuries to any part of your body.

The brain also relies on proprioception, along with visual information, and input from your vestibular system (from your inner ears). Your brain compares these inputs. A proprioceptive mismatch can result in a sense of unsteadiness or dizziness, called cervicogenic dizziness.

People who suffer neck pain can also suffer:

Manual treatment and rehabilitation exercises are effective at reducing pain and stiffness, and improving function and proprioception. Analgesic and anti-inflammatory medications have a mixed track record, working for some but not others. Importantly, medications won’t fix your underlying functional, stability, postural or proprioceptive problems.

Once pain and dysfunction have developed it’s important to seek treatment as early as possible. Waiting to see if it gets better by itself, or trying medications that don’t correct the underlying problems can embed faulty motor patterns and pain, requiring more treatment, rehabilitation and time to correct the problems.

Seeking early treatment improves your likelihood of a swift and complete recovery. Research shows that manual treatments and tailored exercises reduce neck pain. They also improve movement and balance, and quality of life. If the cause of your neck pain is your shoulders or back then treating these areas is also important. Research also shows that systemic inflammatory conditions, poor sleep patterns and psychological problems such as stress, anxiety and depression can impair recovery. Natural medicine can reduce stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms, restore healthy sleep patterns, and reduce systemic inflammation.

You can book an appointment online or call The Headache and Neck Pain Clinic today to make an appointment.

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